1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a card connector, and more particularly to a card connector which is suitably used as a connector of miniature cards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a digital still camera incorporating a conventional card connector.
On an upper surface 500a of a camera casing 500, there are arranged a liquid crystal display panel 600 and a card connector 700.
A protruded terminal array portion 9a of a circuit board, not shown, contained in the camera casing 500 extends through a bottom wall 711 of a box-shaped insulator 701 of the card connector 700 to protrude into the inside of the insulator 701.
The insulator 701 has a top wall 710 formed with an insertion hole 714 via which a miniature card 8 is inserted from outside.
To mount the miniature card 8 in the insulator 701, the front end of the miniature card 8 is hooked under an edge of the insertion hole 714 and pivotally moved downward about the hooked front end.
As a result, the protruded terminal array portion 9a of the circuit board is fitted in a recessed terminal array portion 8a of the miniature card 8 to establish electrical connection between the miniature card 8 and the circuit board.
In the conventional card connector, as described above, the insertion hole 714 is formed in the top wall 710 of the insulator 701 and hence the miniature card 8 is required to be inserted into and removed from the camera casing 500 via an upper surface-side of the camera casing 500.
Therefore, the conventional card connector suffers from the problem that only a small-sized liquid crystal display panel can be mounted on the upper surface 500a of the camera casing 500.
To install a large-sized liquid crystal display panel, the camera casing 500 is required to be increased in size, which goes against the demand of downsizing of the digital still camera.
To avoid the above inconvenience, a method is contemplated in which the miniature card 8 is inserted via one of the sides of the insulator 701. However, if the insertion hole 714 of the insulator 701 is simply changed in location, the front end of the miniature card 8 would abut against the protruded terminal array portion 9a of the circuit board, which is protruded into the inside of the insulator 701, to deform the same.